People take part in a protest outside Stormont against Brexit and it's possible effect on the north and south Irish border on March 29, 2017 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The U.K.-Irish border has been a major issue in Brexit negotiations | Charles McQuillan/Getty Images

UK unveils Brexit plan to avoid hard border with Ireland

London says its customs proposals will avoid the need for physical border posts.

LONDON — The U.K. government will put forward proposals Wednesday for how to avoid a hard border with Ireland while at the same time leaving the EU’s customs union.

Neither side in the Brexit negotiations favors a return to a hard border because of the implications for security of recreating physical border posts, but the U.K. is insistent that it wants to leave the EU customs union so that it can pursue its own trade policy, meaning goods would be required to pass through some kind of check as they crossed between the Republic of Ireland and the North. Until now, the U.K. has not specified how it plans to square that circle.

In a position paper to be published Wednesday, Theresa May’s government lays out how its proposals on post-Brexit customs arrangements — which it released Tuesday — will apply to the Northern Irish border.

The papers are part of a push by the U.K. to reject what it sees as the EU’s rigid sequencing of talks, in which Brussels insists “sufficient progress” must be made made on Britain’s so-called divorce bill, the Northern Irish border and citizens’ rights before talks can progress to the U.K.’s future relationship with the bloc. London argues that the Irish border and future customs arrangements are inextricably interlinked.

The paper on the Irish border will argue that both customs options the U.K. has put forward — a “streamlined” arrangement with technological solutions to negate the need for border checks or an unprecedented customs “partnership” in which the U.K. imposes EU rules and tariffs on most third-country goods — will retain an invisible, frictionless border.

Key to the proposals is exempting small and medium traders from customs checks.

“These arrangements would also need facilitations reflecting the unique circumstances of Northern Ireland, such as new trusted-trader arrangements to deliver highly streamlined processes for larger traders and cross-border trade exemption meaning no new customs processes at all for smaller traders. Over 80 percent of cross-border trade is by [small and medium sized enterprises],” the U.K. Brexit department briefing note said.

The position paper will also call for a swift agreement with the EU to protect the pre-existing Common Travel Area (CTA), which allows both U.K. and Irish nationals to travel freely without being subject to passport controls.

The paper, which will dismiss the idea of a customs border in the Irish Sea as “not constitutionally or economically viable,” will be closely watched in Dublin. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said earlier this month that May should abandon her policy of leaving the EU customs union.

In 2015, Northern Ireland sold £10.7 billion worth of goods to Britain and a further £2.7 billion worth to Ireland, while last year Britain exported £13.6 billion worth of goods to Ireland, and imported £9.1 billion, the Brexit department statement said.

Labour MP Conor McGinn, a supporter of the Open Britain cross-party campaign group, said: “These proposals on a light touch border are lighter still on detail. They don’t outline how a frictionless or seamless border can be achieved when the U.K. leaves the EU and won’t reassure anybody about the impact of Brexit on Northern Ireland.”

“On customs, the government are admitting that a hard Brexit that takes us out of the customs union will lead to more form-filling and red tape for firms on both sides of the border,” he said. “That would damage the economy and put jobs at risk.”

The Liberal Democrats accused the government of breaking promises made by the Leave campaign that Brexit would not leave the border any less open after Brexit.

Tom Brake, the party’s Brexit spokesperson, said: “It’s clear the government can’t deliver on the Leave campaign’s promise that the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland will stay as open as it is now. Even if they only lead to checks on larger traders, these plans could still severely disrupt trade and have a destabilizing impact on the region as a whole. The only sure way to deliver a truly seamless border is to keep the U.K. in the customs union and the single market.”

Josh Hardie, CBI deputy director general, said businesses need more detail. “Business has been clear that maintaining an open, frictionless border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, and between Great Britain and the island of Ireland is essential to supporting jobs and the economy.”

“Companies will be examining these latest proposals closely to ensure they deliver on commitments to ensuring there are no new barriers and that the Common Travel Area is protected,” he said.

This article has been corrected to clarify provisions under the Common Travel Area.

Related stories on these topics:

S Flannagan

Whatever customs plans the UK might have, their decision to exit the EU Customs Union means that Ireland should do the same. Unlike the Brits, Ireland should remain inside the EEA for the sake of our economy. In order to secure an invisible border with the North and our market presence in the UK we need to exit the EU and form a new customs union with the UK

Posted on 8/16/17 | 1:19 AM CET

F1R5S4

@S Flannagan
“their decision to exit the EU Customs Union means that Ireland should do the same. ”

same old, same old. little england telling ireland what to do and what not …. excuse me, your usernick sounds irish to me. do you REALLY believe ireland wishes to be economically dependant on the UK? after their painful history of gaining freedom? they never will.

the UK has to come up with some better solutions for a problem than their old schoolteacher tactics ‘do as you’re told, and because i tell you so’. their present proposals beggar belief. simply not any kind of real solution but wishful thinking – at best.

Posted on 8/16/17 | 5:24 AM CET

Catesby

@ S Flannagan – Ireland should (leave the EU)

I fully agree and have said so in the past. The Republic joined the Common Market at the same time as the UK because the UK was joining. They should now leave for exactly the same reason. The Republic has been a nett contributor for a few years now, so any argument about money from the EU is null and void. Ireland will be expected to pay more in now, for little return. Leaving is up to the Irish people but I’m guessing within a couple of years they will start to realise that they would be much better off out.

@ F1R5S4 – You do realise that Flannagan is an Irish name don’t you or would that spoil your troll like ‘little England’ whinge all the time.

Really, your ‘arguments’ are just continual ad hominum attacks, with little substance and and nothing constructive at all. But that is normally the way with people who cannot actually put a cogent argument together.

Posted on 8/16/17 | 7:04 AM CET

Elena adaal

It is the UK that causes the problems here. A ‘solition’ in the form of Ireland leaving the EU constitutes breaking up the EU. This is against the primary objective of the EU.

I also do not see why this comes up now. Border plans have been issued, and should be studied. I see problems with “exempting small traders” (who is a small trader), and a “light touch” border would be very pourous, leading to smuggling as soon as that is economically advantageous. The opinion of the Irish will be very important for the EU as they are most affected by this issue.

Posted on 8/16/17 | 7:20 AM CET

wow

@F1R5S4

Your efforts to stoke division are hilarious. The man you are calling a little englander is Irish. He says ‘our’ in relation to Ireland.

That didn’t work did it?

Ohhh claim he isn’t irish.. of course… is he russian as well? Oh of course… facts you don’t like so you try to cast doubt and suspicion… quite childish and immature, but expected.

Posted on 8/16/17 | 8:01 AM CET

wow

Sorry Ireland we have to leave the EU, but nobody in UK including NI wants any border. We have had the Common Travel Area for nearly a century and you guys can vote over here in elections etc, without becoming a UK citizen even. You have way more rights than an EU citizen.

There’s simply no need for a border. It is not a fantasy as we have been doing it for longer than the EU or even the EEC had been invented!

This is UK position, if EU do not want this, I suggest you lobby them. They will have to refuse and impose a border, as we in UK are not moving on this issue.

There will be no border whether the EU like it or not.

Posted on 8/16/17 | 8:07 AM CET

tpk

Talking about custom they completely forget to talk about free movement. This partnership custom thing, that’s only thinkable with allowing free movment, I would say? What do real Brexiters say to this?

Posted on 8/16/17 | 9:07 AM CET

EUFederalist

It’s unbelievable the delusional I see here. I have been following the comments and the pro Brexit commenters are the funniest. They have no idea what they are talking about. ahahaha

Posted on 8/16/17 | 9:42 AM CET

S Flannagan

@ F1R5S4

Well, you certainly seem like a pleasant individual. Do you have the faintest clue what Ireland’s needs really are in this mess? We need not only an open border with the North but also tariff-free trade, ideally even a customs union, with our biggest export market for our indigenous industries. This market remains the sort of industries which are going to be devastated by Brexit are the high-volume and low-margin agriculture and food products which keep the Irish countryside alive.

At the same time we need to be inside the Single Market for the benefit of our mainly-foreign owned multinationals which export high-margin but low-volume products to the EU. Thus EEA membership give some us continuity. Even better, it would mean we pay less into the EU budget than we do now, avoid French moves to marmonise EU corporation taxes, keep our military neutrality, regain our fishing grounds, and abolish the ridiculous water charges we have (water in large parts of this country remains undrinkable). Being In a new customs union with the UK would also allow us effectively to veto any crackpot British trade policy to flood their market with cheap agriculture.

Posted on 8/16/17 | 9:51 AM CET

EUFederalist

@S Flannagan

That’s very beautiful to say. You should be a writer! But Ireland doesn’t want to leave EU. And Brexit was a British decision. They will not be followed by Ireland and destroy EU. Poor Irish peasants that now need to sell their products to other EU markets. Simply as that.

Posted on 8/16/17 | 10:20 AM CET

Catesby

@EUFederalist ‘Poor Irish peasants…’

Good to see what a vile little creature you are. The Irish people will decide their own future, but please, keep it up with the usual EU name calling. It is such a bankrupt idea, that it is all you have left.

Posted on 8/16/17 | 11:12 AM CET

Toco

@wow

so what’s the point in getting back control of our borders if a foreign smuggling gang or whoever can just transport illegal wares or traffic people into Ireland and then easily hop across the non-existant border into NI? As the UK has ruled out treating NI differently to the mainland it will mean, economic migrants, refugees and all sorts will be free to come to the mainland with nothing to stop them. All of this work for nothing? Be serious man.

The idea of Ireland following the UK out of the EU to maintain it’s relations with the UK is one of the most laughable things I have heard so far. Where is the political will? Who would advocate such a thing? What time frame? After the Brexit shambles what nation would even attempt to voluntarily leave the EU? Especially when Ireland would be in a massive bind considering it isn’t the 7th largest economy in the world, doesn’t have a seat on the UNSC, doesn’t have one of the world’s largest army’s and also doesn’t have the infrastructure in place to “go it alone”.

Posted on 8/16/17 | 11:23 AM CET

Deirdre Walsh

I am British with dual Irish Nationality & my entire family are Irish and a lot of them are farmers. Every single one of them & their friends would rather have the common travel area with the UK and a customs union with the UK than the EU if the EU forces them to choose. Not one of them believes there has to be a hard border with the North. The politicans are trying to tie the EU line, but they are fully aware of what a no deal with the UK would do to Ireland & how angry the Irish people would be should this happen.

Posted on 8/16/17 | 11:51 AM CET

Tom

They keep asking for stuff that makes them look good in the gutter press and assume that when their unreasonable requests are turned down everyone will blame the EU.

Posted on 8/16/17 | 2:43 PM CET

NMunsterman

Ireland will not be leaving the EU.
Period.
The EU has been the best thing that ever happened to Ireland post-independence – and the Irish Nation is very well aware of that, with pro-EU support in Ireland close to 90%.
The UK leaving the EU has caused the problems – it’s up to the UK to propose acceptable solutions.
The easiest and most practical solution – by far – is to have the Irish border in the Irish Sea.

Posted on 8/16/17 | 3:32 PM CET

sgu66

@Tom

So in your opinion, please explain what a reasonable request is? I only ask as the EU asked the UK to put forward their position, which they have, and the EU now say that they do not wish to discuss the trade aspect until the border is resolved – so how is this position tenable, as one relies on the other? Or is your position just that anything the UK govt presents is unreasonable as it is not your viewpoint?

Posted on 8/16/17 | 3:43 PM CET

S Flannagan

@ Deirdre Walsh

You’ll get yourself into trouble showing reason and common sense on these comment boards! You are of course completely right. Ireland is trapped in 2 orbits, the UK and the EU. We need a customs union with the UK to benefit small Irish companies and most industries outside of Dublin. Keeping the Common Travel Area with the UK will also act as mini-Single market for these islands. At the same time, we need to stay inside the EEA (like Norway and Iceland) in order to keep our business with the Continent as we do now.

We take on a lot of bad ideas from the UK but leaving the EU (‘Irexit’) would not be one of them in my view. I know this is still a minority view in Ireland, because the EU used to be grand (until Lisbon and the banking ‘bailout’). But I think attitudes towards the EU have been changing anyway and the general public won’t stand for a hard border Andale food and livestock being wiped out by tariffs.

Posted on 8/16/17 | 4:08 PM CET

S Flannagan

@ EUFederalist

Charm will get you nowhere here. Do you honestly believe an Irexit would destroy the EU. The EU needs Ireland like a pimple on the gluteous maximus.

Posted on 8/16/17 | 4:14 PM CET

bluebell

@S Flannagan

Your reply to EUFederalist made me laugh so much it made my eyes water. Thank you.

Posted on 8/16/17 | 5:03 PM CET

Chris

@Toco

You said “so what’s the point in getting back control of our borders if a foreign smuggling gang or whoever can just transport illegal wares or traffic people into Ireland and then easily hop across the non-existant border into NI? As the UK has ruled out treating NI differently to the mainland it will mean, economic migrants, refugees and all sorts will be free to come to the mainland with nothing to stop them. All of this work for nothing? Be serious man.”

Currently the trafficking of illegal non-EU immigrants into the UK is not a problem because the Irish, being clever people, did not make the hideous mistake of signing up to the Schengen agreement. Unlike France. And that is why the many illegal immigrants who would prefer to live in the UK than any of the other Schengen countries attempt to come to the UK via France. This will not change after Brexit.

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